A loving heart is beg beginning of all knowledge

CHAPTER 5
Giles woke the following morning to the ringing of his phone. He untangled from Buffy with a regretful smile and hurried down the stairs. Just as he reached the phone it stopped. He heard Joyce’s voice on the answering machine telling Buffy to call her as soon as she could. Her voice had seemed surprisingly calm, considering her daughter had just spent the night at “that man’s” house.
oidioiding my mother’s call?” an amused voice said behind him. Giles smiled and turned around to greet his night time visitor.

“Yes, well, I think you are better equipped to handle your mother than I am when it comes to her temper. You have slightly more experience than I do.” Buffy laughed and stepped closer to him and placed a hand on his chest.

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell her that I left late enough that none of her neighbours would have seen me sneaking out. I’m sure my reputation is still intact.”

Giles didn’t laugh like she’d intended at her remark. A realization struck him with an intense force. She had been walking outside at night, now no longer protected by her slayer skills, and his stomach clenched as he realised how lucky she had been that she hadn’t met a vampire. Without thinking he grabbed her arms and pulled her flush against his body.

“Promise me you will never do that again,” he said, a little harsher than he intended. At her questioning and hurt look he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close, “Buffy, I am sorry I didn’t mean to hurt you, but there are things in this town that you know nothing of. Sunnydale is extremely dangerous at night. Promise me that you won’t go outside when it’s dark by yourself.”

His voice shook and his body trembled as he thought of what could have happened last night. Buffy felt his fear and instinctively moved to soothe his pain. She placed a hand on his cheek, raised herself on her toes and placed her lips against his.

Nothing had prepared her for Giles’ reaction. For a second he was frozen, then he suddenly pulled his mouth away from her and looked at her with bewilderment, “What? Why did you do that?”

Buffy watched him in confusion, wondering what the hell was going on. She frowned at him, “What do you mean why did I do that? I was trying to make you feel better.”

Giles shook his head, “No. I mean, what possessed you to kiss me?” Buffy was growing more and more confused as she watched him.

“I know I have amnesia, but even I know that kissing your boyfriend is normal when you’re in a relationship.”

Giles’ look was priceless, and she would have laughed had she not been as confused as he looked. He confusedly strangled out, “Boyfriend? I am not your boyfriend. I’m, I’m, well I am not your boyfriend!” Buffy’s heart sank. She took a deep breath and tried to stay calm.

“But, but, you hugged me when you first appeared at the hospital. Then you came back and held me all night. Even that Anya girl commented on the fact that we shouldn’t flaunt our relationship in front of my mother. Which I kind of understood. I guess no mother is overjoyed if her daughter was dating an older guy. And, and, last night, didndidn’t seem very surprised when I crawled into bed with you. Plus, the feelings you stir in me when you touch me or look at me seem so familiar and strong. I thought you felt the same way, and that you just didn’t make any moves because I didn’t remember you. But I kind of did. Your smell was so familiar to me when you held me for the first time, and you made me feel so safe.”

Giles had remained motionless during her speech, refusin bel believe what he had heard, refusing to believe he could stir feelings in her. He tried to explain, “Buffy, we are very close, it’s true, but these feelings you have aren’t reliable. Your feelings are based on the fact that I make you feel safe and comfortable during a very frightening time for you. You are misreading them. Before your amnesia you never indicated that you felt anything about me more than friendship.”

Buffy looked at him with uncertainty in her eyes. She knew her feelings were true. She also noticed that he hadn’t made any claim about his own feelings. She couldn’t give up, but she needed to analyze the situation. She needed more time before she tried to convince him that her feelings were real.

“Ok, let’s drop this for now and we can talk about this later. I have to call my mother and then head home. I promised to help her with tonight’s dinner. You’re still coming right?” she asked with worry in her voice. Perplexed by her inclination to leave this alone so quickly, all he could do was nod. She made a quick call to her mother to check in.

Once done with the call she turned around with a brilliant smile, then went to kiss him on the cheek as she said goodbye and walked out. It took Giles several minutes before he was able to shake himself from his stupor.

What the bloody hell had just happened?

CHAPTER 6
Dinner was a fun affair. Xander and Willow shared stories of their times with Buffy. Anya would interrupt when she felt like it with her usual unsuitable comments. Xander had made her promise earlier that she’d make no mention of any demony subjects, and she managed to restrain herself.

Despite the laughter, Joyce couldn’t help but notice that there was tension between Giles and Buffy. More than once she had seen Giles shy away from Buffy’s touch. Her heart hurt when she saw the distress it was causing Buffy.

Giles had noticed too, but he had decided to nip this in the bud. He was afraid that if he responded the way he wanted to he’d do irreparable damage to their relationship, especially when her memory returned. Yet he had replayed her kiss a thousand times that day and he ached to hold her close and really show her how he felt.

Buffy felt her heart sink further as the night progressed, and when he left after dinner with barely a nod to her she had to bite her lip to prevent tears from spilling. When she saw her mother following Giles outside, she decided to follow. She watched them from the kitchen window as her mother stopped Giles on the lawn.

“Mr. Giles. May I have word with you?” Giles stopped in his tracks and turned with something that looked like fear on his face. Apparently he had some explaining to do.

Joyce almost laughed out loud when she saw his expression, but figured that he wouldn’t appreciate that reaction. He gave her a slight nod and waited for the axe to fall.

“Mr. Giles, your behaviour tonight has not been what I expected. Although Buffy’s amnesia is rather unfortunate, most of all for her, I can’t deny it’s done some good.”

At his confused look she continued, “You both have a great opportunity to tear down some walls. Instead you seem adamantly bent on keeping them just the way they are. I think the two of you are more in denial about how you feel about each other than I am. But tonight all I can see is the pain it’s causing Buffy to have you keep her at arm’s length. Especially since she decided to act on her feelings. Why is that, Mr. Giles? You obviously feel as strongly about Buffy as she does about you. Why are you throwing away this opportunity?”

At first Giles was incapable of saying a word. It was too much to process, and he couldn’t believe that Joyce was confronting him with his own feelings. His first instinct was to deny everything, but he quickly realised that Joyce was no fool, and she probably would not welcome his attempt.

“Ah. . . well . . . you see . . . what I mean is. . .” With an exasperated breath he decided to put it all on the line.

“Joyce, Buffy has never indicated that she has had feelings about me before. I’m terrified that these feelings that she claims she has now are all in her mind. That she’s misunderstood because I make her feel safe. It could cause irreversible damage to our relationship should I be correct when her memory returns.”

With a slight shake of her head Joyce muttered. “I can’t believe I am going to do this.”

She stepped closer to him and placed a hand on his crossed arms. “Mr. Giles, Buffy does have feelings for you. Believe me, they were there before she lost her memory. They run deep. I’ve tried for the longest time to ignore them, because frankly, you are not exactly what I had in mind for a son in law. But I realise now that Buffy’s world revolves around you, and nothing would make her happier than you returning her feelings. My daughter is nothing but unconventional, but I still have conventional wants for her. Simply put, I want her to be happy. I think being with you will make her happy. I think she deserves that, don’t you?”

As Joyce spoke Giles felt equal parts hope and fear rise within him. Was he making a monumental mistake by pushing Buffy’s advances away? Just as he was about to respond, the front door opened, and Buffy stepped out on the porch.

“Mom? Is everything alright?” Buffy was confused. Had she been wrong about Giles and her mom?

Joyce turned when Buffy came out, looked back at Giles and smiled enigmatically as she murmured. “It appears to be, now.” Joyce started up the steps and hid a grin when she saw Buffy’s narrowed eyes and an expression that looked suspiciously like jealousy on her face. She gave Buffy’s shoulder a tiny push as she passed her and whispered, “Go talk to him Buffy.”

Giles, who had been looking at Buffy with awe in his face, noticed her reaction to her mother, and he felt his restraints snapping.

As Buffy walked down the steps she asked with barely hidden anger, “Is there something going on between you I should know about?”

Giles merely shook his head and tried unsuccessfully to hide a smile as he approached her with his hands in his pant pockets.

In the meantime, Joyce had rushed to the kitchen window. She found the Scoobies curiously watching the scene unfolding on the lawn. “Did I miss anything?” she asked breathlessly. Anya only responded with a shake, as Willow replied, “In a few more seconds you probably would have.” They collectively held their breath hey hey saw Giles stop in front of Buffy, pull his hands out of his pockets to hold her and lower his head to hers.

CHAPTER 7
Buffy’s breath caught when Giles stopped in front of her and lowered his mouth to hers. She gasped when she felt his tongue trace her lips. He immediately took advantage by twisting his tongue with hers. The taste of him intoxicated Buffy as she tangled her hands into his shirt. His arms closed around her and he tilted his head to kiss her more easily.

“Wow! Who knew Giles could kiss like that?” Xander asked as he watched the passionate embrace.

“You should probably ask Giles for advice,” Anya whispered back as she strained to get a better look, “lucky girl.” she muttered. Tara, Willow and Xander all nodded their heads.

Giles moaned when he felt Buffy’s hands untuck his shirt and start stroking his sides. He needed to stop this before he lost all control and jumped her right there on law lawn. The knowledge that themselves were in danger of being jumped by other things made him regretfully end their kiss. He couldn’t help but groan when Buffy’s lips chased his as he pulled away from her. He decided that one more kiss from those lips couldn’t hurt. Boy was he wrong. Once he started he couldn’t seem to get enough of her.

Once again he forced himself to stop, but left his forehead resting against hers as he looked intently into her eyes. He wanted nothing more than to take her with him and make love to her all night, and the look in Buffy’s eyes told him she wanted the same. Despite Joyce’s generosity, despite the fact that she’d made this happen between Buffy and him tonight, he seriously doubted she would let him live a day longer should he take Buffy with him as he left.

Buffy, for her part, wanted nothing more than to go with him. Her mother wasn’t a part of her thoughts, but she was afraid to seem too forward if she offered to go with him. Instead they stood their, foreheads together, just sharing the bond between them.

When his breathing had calmed, Giles gave her an endearing final kiss, just a brush of his lips against hers. Then he hugged her closer and whispered in her ear, “Sweet dreams, Buffy.”

She was incapable to respond until he was several yards away. “Wow!” was her soft exclamation.

She was still dazed when she walked inside, completely missing the conspicuous looks the others were sending her. Her friends didn’t stay for long once they realized nothing sensible was going to come from Buffy for the rest of the night. She seemed completely lost in another world. They decided to leave her so she could get some sleep and dream about Giles.

TBC